Advice on putting together a HT... (1 Viewer)

[BradtheAg]

My roommate recently decided to add a receiver & speakers to his 46" tv. I convinced him to avoid HTiB and he decided to go with the Onkyo 605. We're currently running a Playstation 3 and a DirecTV box through it to my Cerwin Vega Re-30 speakers and a DCM sub. The next step is adding surround speakers. We play a lot of video games and watch a lot of sports with some occasional TV and DVDs/blu-rays thrown in.

We're not sure how to approach it. We have considered A) buying a set of 5-7 speakers + sub from someone like JBL or Onkyo etc. or B) just adding some rears and a center channel and using my sub and my Re-30s as the fronts. Looking to spend around $300-400.

Thoughts? Will the Re-30s work as quality fronts? I think they will and the money would be well spent on three great speakers rather than 5 or 7 mediocre ones, but I'm not positive that's the best course of action here. We're both novices at this so I figured I'd ask the experts.

Thanks

 

[BradtheAg]

Whoops, sorry for the double post. Didn't think the first attempt had worked.

 

[Ennsio]

An important principle to keep in mind is that your front three speakers should be from the same speaker line (if possible) so that they are timbre-matched, as each speaker line or brand has a slightly different sound to it. You want the three front speakers to sound the same so that when a car traveling from left to right in your speakers will sound the same as the signal goes from your left speaker to your center channel to your right speaker. That means that you will need a Cerwin Vega center channel from the same line as the Re-30s. Is there one available?

I agree with you that $300-$400 is better spent on a center channel and surrounds than a full 5.1 set of speakers. Are you happy with the way the Cerwin Vega's sound? If you are, then I would stick with them and build up the rest of your system.

You will need to give us more information about the room this is going in to get more advice about what speakers would work best and how to lay them out. For example, how big is the room? Are there side walls beside the listening area to put surround speakers on? How far away is the back wall? This kind of information is needed to advise what type of surrounds to get.

 

[BradtheAg]

I think we're both pretty happy with the Re-30s. They are extremely clear and balanced and stay that way at pretty much any volume.

I didn't know that about fronts matching center channels...I found a couple of Cerwin center channels but I think the Re line was discontinued a while back (looks like it was replaced with the Ve or CLS). That might present us with some problems.

The room everything is in is fairly large but I don't have any measurements here with me at work. I'll try to get some numbers together when I get home this evening. Thanks

 

[Dave Moritz]

You could ether replace your Re-30's and buy a completly new set of speakers. And I would keep the all the speakers the same type and brand so they are all timber matched. This will give you better sound and when sound pans around the room it will sound consistant. The subwoofer however does not need to be the same brand. SVS makes a great subwofer and so does Velodyne.

You could also keep your Re-30's for the front and buy some satalite speakers to match your current speakers. I would concentrate on getting a really good center channel and then go from there. Rear speakers should not cost alot and you might want to take advantage of your 605 being a 7.1 receiver. A 7.1 configuration will give you a better sense of being emersed in the game or movie over a 5.1 set up.

And since you said you have a large room that is why I suggested keeping your larger speakers you how have. Cerwin are not known for being the most acurate sounding speaker but give you alot of puch for the money. It all depends on what your goals are for your system. But if money is tight and you are on a budget. Then I would use as much of what you have and just add to it. Just keep in mind that speakers are over 50% of your sound so I would try to concentrate on that. And again if your room is large and if you like to turn up the sound when watching a movie. Then try to stay way from minature speakers. Your surrounds do not need to be huge but the ultra tinny ones are most likely not going to be a good choice to go with your Re-30's.

How big is your room?

Do you plan to own a Blu-ray player any time soon?

How loud do you plan to listen to it most of the time?